Of Hooves and History

A Day with Royalty - Part 3

The castle's halls were alive with the distant sounds of busy staff as we made our way down the grand halls to the dining hall, where Haven sat, waiting with a cute fluffy white dog beside her.

"Good evening, your Majesty," I announced, awkwardly stepping in as I realized I was still carrying my skateboard into a royal dining room. Haven must've noticed my awkward smile, because she made a subtle gesture and a guard came over with a small cart. I smiled and placed it sideways to avoid it rolling off.

"Thanks. You could carry it if you wanted," I called after the guard as he slipped out down one of the halls, before turning back to Haven, who gestured to a chair beside her. "Come, dear, sit down. I am sure you have much to discuss."

I walked over and slowly rested into the chair, taking in the sight of food before us – hot creamy soup, fresh buttered flatbread, and fresh foliage. I dipped a piece of bread into my bowl of soup as Pipp and Zipp reluctantly shuffled into their seats and took a few nibbles. Sunny and Izzy eagerly ate in silence and made some small talk between themselves.

"Zepyhrina, you seem to be disinterested in the food today," Haven inquired. "What's the matter, dear?"

"We had an intermediary snack," I said quickly, and Pipp shot me a glare. "Just a sandwich. I presume your daughters have a high level of metabolism?"

Haven cocked an eyebrow in my direction, so I rephrased. "Conservation of energy for longer periods between meals."

"Oh yes. Zephyrina is very much a pony of performance – in a different way," she replied with a smile. I looked over at Pipp whilst reaching for another flatbread. Clearly there was some favoritism in this family. All the reason to kick it with Zipp sooner than later.

"How did the negotiation and signing go?"

"Not great, Mom," Zipp replied, looking down guiltily.

"It's one thing to be upset that the law is not compliant with your business desires, and it's another thing entirely to shout and hurl derogative insults," Sunny added.

"But our brave friend Aiden saved the day with his piercing glare of intimidation!" Izzy crowed joyfully, pumping the hair with a forehoof.

I sheepishly bit back a chuckle and turned to Haven. "Well, not exactly like that, but I did give a decently thick streak of assertiveness. Has Ms. Ruby been problematic before?"

"Yes. Twice. She's good at manipulating pegasi into agreement and collaboration with fake friendliness and proud promises. I had plans to give a grand speech in which the official rulings of real estate development and engineering standards would be defined, but those have sadly been postponed for months."

More toppings on the current pizza slice of mystery. "Do you suspect any dirty play at tomorrow's meeting?"

Haven proudly shook her head. "I have confidence in my near-thirty-year reign of this kingdom that my subjects, even the prolific ones, will recognize and submit to the rules and protocols they signed off on as citizens. On second thought, I think your information extraction methods would work better with a relay system."

Now I was the on the other end of the descriptive deciphering stick. After a couple awkward seconds, it clicked, and I nodded in agreement. We agreed to privately meet in the morning and discuss over breakfast.

We enjoyed the food, and right as the staff came to clean up, a well-dressed mare arrived with a cart of desert and fruit.

"Thanks," I grinned, tucking into what closely resembled a raspberry jam-filled Danish pastry. Sunny and Izzy took one too. As we wiped up our sugar-lined lips and rose up to prepare for the impending evening, I couldn't help but smile fondly at Haven with her proud demeanor and motherly aura.